~ Settled back in Jersey, heart still in Ireland….

Jersey Joggers, I wonder if anyone will come…

Crikey, I knew we’d had some interest but I didn’t expect 40 people to turn out for the very first session 🙂 Good intentions and all that. But come they did in their droves, most of them even bearing disclaimer forms which may or may not save me from a legal claim in case someone has a heart attack or something. All but a handful were female.

We’re starting off with a basic Couch to 5k course, over nine weeks. This involves a walk/jog routine, certainly in the early weeks. With little enough choice in Jersey on dark evenings we convened at Bel Royal from where you have traffic-free runs along the front with at least some lighting to guide the way.

This week’s three sessions are – warm up then jog 60sec, walk 90sec x 8, stretch. The jogging bits are done very slowly, though the participants have the option of stretching out a little if they wish after the half-way point.

I’ll gradually be introducing good running habits, one at a time. Tonight’s was simply – run tall, eyes ahead which automatically aligns head, shoulders and hips so the feet land correctly under the centre of gravity.

Now I hope everyone doesn’t bring an extra friend on Wednesday or we might be in crowd trouble!

9 thoughts on “Jersey Joggers, I wonder if anyone will come…”

It’s a pretty well proven plan at this stage the C25k – the Cool Running website has what I believe is the original version which I tend to follow when teaching. Let us know how you get on with it Deb 🙂

Awesome, that is a great way to start, I squeezed in 7 km between end of work day and class last night and it hit me later that there was a time that 7 min seemed a challenge. Hat off to you for encouraging others. I am seeing more women on the trails on this side of the pond as well. If they are serious and really want to keep up the running, encourage them to incorporate a core workout a couple times a week. Us ladies tend to have more hip problems when our core is not strong. My 14 year old step daughter is finding this out now, size has nothing to do with core strength.

Thanks Lisa! Indeed so many beginners laugh when you tell them they’ll run a 5k non-stop in a few weeks time – and they almost always do.
Agree with you on core strength and I’ll be encouraging this a little further down the line. A good core helps maintain an efficient running position therefore alleviating a number of little problems. Once the good weather arrives I might get a better response to doing floor work 🙂

Congratulations on the great turnout! I’m not a runner, not anymore, but I am organizing a 5K as a fundraiser for my girls’ preschool. I can’t stand those waivers (waiving negligence claims in the US) and here I am handing them out!

Thanks AMB – I didn’t envisage suddenly addressing/leading 40 strangers (mainly) last Monday but it was fun. And indeed any those waivers/disclaimers wouldn’t hold much water in the event of a negligence action. But, like possible actions arising from one’s writing, you can’t keep worrying about that stuff.